KillBrite Studio’s ‘Plan’ creates touching trip

By: Cody Hood

As the subtle hum of electricity fills the air, the insect flies towards the sound. As the fly finally reaches its destination, stars are seen behind its destination, providing a happy sight. As the fly reaches its destination, though, a loud zap is heard as the insect falls to the ground, fried by the electricity of the bug zapper. The fly’s journey has finally come to an end; its plan fulfilled.

“The Plan” is a game developed by KrillBite Studio, who started to create this game over the time that their main game, “Among the Sleep,” was being developed. “The Plan” is absolutely free and will only occupy about five to 10 minutes of total playtime.

The player takes control of a simple fly that is on a leaf. When the game starts, the fly starts to ascend. As the fly ascends, various obstacles stand to stop the fly, such as spider webs, harsh winds and leaves falling from the plants and trees. While the fly ascends, it becomes smaller and smaller on the player’s screen. Soon enough, the fly ascends past the plant life, and the stars are seen. It’s truly a beautiful sight to anybody playing the game, and the music in the background brings meaning to such a simple and seemingly insignificant action.

This whole game is designed to be placed around how tiny each person is in relation to the infinity that is the universe. At the end of the game, the player can place a message with a star out of the millions that exist there, and read a few that have already been placed by people that have played the game. It’s a somber experience, but definitely a strong one at that.

My friend had originally told me that he played this game and was surprised by how deep it was. In curiosity, I downloaded it from Steam and began to play. Once it was over, I laid back in my bed and let out a hefty sigh of thoughtfulness. It was the first time I had ever thought about how small I was in relation to the world and the universe in whole. It really puts things into perspective for a player, and it needs to be experienced in order to be understood.

“The Plan” is short, sweet, and meaningful, with good music for being as short as it is. This is a game of meaning, not of challenge, and as such shouldn’t be played by those hardcore gamers who just seek to better their own scores. It’s a great project between one of their big games and was definitely worth the download and play.